First up was the Amon Carter Museum, where over 100 paintings and sculptures by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell were on display in the museum’s ground floor galleries. We spent a lot of time there, and I appreciated getting to see such an interesting collection of works by two great artists of the American West.
We had our dinner in Esperanza's Mexican restaurant (below), then continued on to the Kimbell Art Museum. I especially enjoyed the Pre-Columbian collection, the small ceramic sculptures and larger carved vessels (mostly from Central America) were real bonny. These kinds of American artefacts are hard to find in museums back home!
Amp then drove us through downtown Fort Worth, past the Bass Performance Hall where two 48-foot tall angels sculpted from Texas limestone grace the Grand Facade! That's them blowing their own trumpet in the next photo. After being herded past the old stockyards we headed back to Dallas, picked up Amp William, and went to the AMC cinema complex to see 'The Da Vinci Code'. How's that for a day out!
Sunday 21st, we swung in past for Amp's folks and went to Matt's restaurant - can't get enough of that Mexican food! I had chicken fajita quesadillas which were delicious. It was lovely to catch up with Amp Jr. and Ruth again, too. That's them dispensing the cuddles, below. That's just what they do.
Back at the house, we took some time to do a bunch of washing, catch up on our e-mail, and take photos of the cousins and their bairns. Here we have a bevy of beauties...
followed by a picture of Amp William (a.k.a. Superman)...
and a final hug from Sarah for her Dad before she went back to Austin!
Later, Barbara Anne took us to HEB Central Market on Lover's Lane for the essentials: food and beer. What an amazing selection of fine food they had, and all immaculately presented. Beats the hell out of Tescos at any rate. To top it all off we went to TwoRows Brew Pub for tea, where we tried a selection of their handcrafted ales. These Texans sure know the way to a Scotsman's heart!
On Monday morning, Beth and I prepared the buffalo mince, peppers, onion, yellow squash and jalapeños we'd bought at the HEB the day before. Barbara Anne came home from work and took us out for an Italian dinner, then dropped us off at Northpark Center mall. We had a relaxing afternoon wandering around the shops and I got myself some new Levis from Dillards.
At night, we heated up the food we'd prepared earlier and had it over Louisiana dirty rice. Turned out real good! Amp then took me round to his brother Zack's house to watch some basketball. The Dallas Mavericks beat the San Antonio Spurs nae bother.
Tuesday 23rd, we went with Barbara Anne to Baker's Ribs Texas Barbecue in the Deep Ellum district. Bill Binnie, a colleague of Barbara Anne's fae Motherwell joined us, and we enjoyed some good food in great surroundings. Beth is sitting on one of the benches which are upholstered with Lone Star flag coverings! I would have loved one for the house...
After dinner, we were dropped off at the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, housed in the former Texas School Book Depository building. It was on the sixth floor of this building that a sniper’s nest and rifle were found after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963.
The top photo is looking towards the Museum across Elm Street where Kennedy was shot. The grassy knoll is on the right in the next picture, and President Kennedy's limousine sped through the triple underpass at the bottom of the street after the shooting, on it's way to Parkland Memorial Hospital.
The Museum uses contemporary film, photographs and interpretative displays to record the events of the assassination and the findings of the official investigations that followed. The exhibition made a fair impression on the both of us, especially the pictures of the shooting itself and the images of his wife afterwards, covered in blood and in a state of shock. Sad.
Anyways, Barbara Anne picked us up afterwards and took us to Baylor College, where she and Amp both work. The picture below is of Barbara H. Miller D.D.S., Executive Director of Recruitment and Admissions at Baylor College of Dentistry! We had a nice time visiting with some of Barbara Anne's colleagues and had a fly cuppa in her office.
I then left with Amp, we picked up Amp William, and went on to play a round of golf at Tenison Park. I had a great time, got to drive a golf buggy for the first time, and saw fireflies at dusk which I'd never seen before either. Magical!
Wednesday 24th we got our gear packed. I'd caught another cold so Beth went out for dinner with Amp Jr. and Ruth to Mi Cocina by herself. I felt better later on so went for a walk round the block; I was only out for half an hour but it was 100℉ and I got drenched in sweat! Did I say Texas is H.O.T. already? We went with our cousins to the Black Eyed Pea for tea at night.
On Thursday 25th May Barbara Anne took us out to DFW for the last time for our 10:35 flight to Chicago. It got in at 12:50, we had a nice walk round the shops and got something to eat, then flew out at 16:50. We landed at Heathrow at 06:35 GMT (6 hours ahead of Central Time). The connecting flight to Aberdeen left at 09:45, arrived at 11:10, we picked our car up from the Thistle Hotel and got home around 2pm, 24 hours after leaving Claybrook Drive!